agreed - start with an extra layer, and take it off if needed. today was 16 in Denver, the coldest day this season, but it was dry and sunny.

today i wore:

2 pairs of socks
tights, (biking shorts on top)
------
tight stretch base layer shirt (from nashbar)
nylon shell light jacket
helly hansen light but extremely insulated jacket on top of that
------
full head cover with neck covering (burgler looking face cut out thing)
winter hat on top of that
gortex ski gloves

i never used my head cover thing (only for skiing), but it worked great and totally insulates side of face and neck.

i just got this base layer from nashbar and love it - it replaces a heavy flannel type shirt i wore, which felt really heavy with a light sweat. just wearing that and my jacket is perfect, maybe a shirt between them.

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

it seems like a lot of gear, but a few light layers is much more easier than big bulky jackets. yesterday i wore short little socks, and left an open space on the back of my ankle, was a bit raw when i got to work (no skin for insulation there).

hey three Denver posts in a row :)

i've mentioned before my favorite commuting gadget is actually my wireless thermometer. i have this in my bathroom, and can dress without going downstairs and outside to check weather. the above poster is right, 25 feels much different than 35, so this helps.

http://www.ambientweather.com/thermometers.html

ask your sig. other to get you one for christmas!

Hum....
I'm thinking a burley jacket is overkill. Most ponder cancelling order and redistributing the money elsewhere. Jacket and Panniers!

Incidentally, I rode also this morning.
My items were:
Head: balaclava, helmet, and googles
Torso: Nike pro fit shirt, mid weight fleece jacket liner, and a windbreaker
Legs: Tights, cycling shorts, and a pair of jogging pants to stop the wind.
Feet: cotton socks and wool skiing socks. Tennis shoes
Hands: ski gloves

Everything was fine. The areas for improvement lie in my torso. I need a cycling jacket and to seperate the fleece jacket liner into several thinner layers. Maybe better gloves.

Usually, they are available in the Coupon Forum but at this moment, there is no active 20% code. If you can wait, then you can save quite a bit by using one. They tend to come and go every month or so. Usually, when I find one, I place an order right away for the things on my eternally evolving/growing list.

Hi, Tajsss. I am commuting on my bicycle here in Dallas as well, so I have gone through the weather as you did. When the weather got cold I wore a nylon shell with a polyester/spandex base layer shirt and it gets hot very quickly and the sweat condensates inside my nylon shell. Now I am trying a tight fit PowerStrech fleece jacket with no base layer. But the temp has been around 50 lately, so this setup hasn't really been tested with colder weather.

Which route do you travel, and how many miles of commuting? I am riding on Plano Parkway and it's almost perfect for bike commute after 9:15 AM in the morning and after 6:40 PM in the evening. My commute is 9 miles one way.

Tennis shoes are too soft. Try moutain bike shoes. It's a world of difference. I bought one pair from Nashbar (Lake?).

Try some neoprene shoe covers from Performance. That improves comfort a bunch. I also have found bib tights to be much better at really cold temps than regular tights. They keep your core warmer.

I think I got enough experience points to go up a level in foul-weather commuting today. I bike commuted last winter too but I was never very comfortable doing it. Granted, I'm in the SF Bay Area so things are a lot milder here than some of ya'll. Today I zipped in through puddles, showers, and some heavier rain, temps about 50F, without any misery. I was geared up like:

SPD sandals, Sealskinz waterproof socks over 2-layer Wrightsocks
REI semi-breathable pants (front neoprene, back spandex) over bike shorts
Normal short-sleeve jersey

I was actually a bit disappointed that it wasn't more wet. But not disappointed enough to, like, move to Seattle or anything. :)

I'm a Ft Worth commuter. We rarely get ice or snow here, and when we do, no one knows how to drive in it. No way am I gonna get on the road on a bike in that situation.

I'm going to split my commute - half driving, half riding.

I need the ride very bad ... but the hills can get dangerous as temps drop, mostly due the humans enveloped in a nice metal box.

BTW ... my box part canvas.

Yup. I have a Radio Shack one. The transmitter is on the north side of my house and we use it all the time. One other piece of info to get and use is a sunrise/sunset table you can get here. You can also get a civil twilight table. I printed mine out and it hangs on my refrig and on my desk (at work). Very handy.

Salute DFW Bike Commuter!

The next upgrade after panniers will be converting to clipless. I have a month or two to decide on sandals or regular shoes. The xmas bonus is already spent!

I was planning on picking up the shoe covers with the clipless upgrade. After what you have said, maybe it will be sooner.
I will ponder the bib tights since I already need a second pair of tights. That would be perfect timing.

PM me when you are ready for clipless pedals. Maybe Santa will come early this year ;)

Wow. Someone else commutes in Dallas. I have seen 1 other person commuting in the past 2 or 3 months and I only saw him one time. Crazy. We are really close to each other actually. I live at Hillcrest/Ohio and George Bush. I commute to UTD 2 days a week via Hillcrest to Frankford to Waterview. I don't have class till 10am so traffic has died down by then and it is not bad. I commute to Las Colinas for work 3 other days a week. I am not commuting the whole way yet. I am driving part of the way and riding the rest. I started out driving to Brookhaven Community College in Farmers Branch then taking Valley View road which turns and runs right into Irving not far from my office. I am currently parking at the Dart station on Arapaho and the North Tollway. I go down Addison Rd. to Valley View and follow that in to Irving. I have to be at work at 7am so I beat all the traffic as I get to work early enough to shower. I don't leave till 6pm so most of the traffic has died down by the time I change clothes and get out the door. My one way trip is 12.5 miles currently. I plan on riding the full distance to work and back starting this Saturday which will be between 18 to 19 miles one way. We'll see how it goes. My wife also commutes (fair weather only though so she is done for the winter) to Addison right by the Addison airport. I've found a lot of smaller roads that she takes that are nice without much traffic. I do drive to work one day a week though and take enough clothes for the whole week so I don't have to carry much with me which is nice and makes the long commute easier without having to carry a bunch of weight like I do to school.

Tim

Will do. :)

yee hah. today i got my first ride on snow. as you can probably guess, it was really fun. fun, but now i'm very very sleepy.

You're talking about the drops that form on the inside of your jacket, right? Same here + on the inside of my waterproof pants. I though it was just condensation though, because they start forming 5 min into my ride when I'm not yet sweating even a little.

I want to ask all of you winter commuters what do you do about your lights in this more severe weather? With daylight savings time at least one of my daily rides is in semi-dark or pitch-dark. Snow, rain, etc also make me think that my current lights are not really adequate. Any input?

mmph. they may be, but i've always just put mine on this side of my own door, and not taken it off until i was that side of the parking lot. plus, i've always figured that with me inside them, the only place anything condensable could be coming from is me anyway. there ain't much room in there for anything else :D

There are many, many, good lights for bad conditions. See the "light selection guide" thread. Read the first post and take a look at the links. More than enough info.

I use the Niteriders because that's what I started with and because they are waterproof. I will say that riding in snow is the one place where using a helmet light is bad. You get too much reflection from the snow to see where you are going. Fog does the same thing but I don't often get to ride in fog. When I do it's really kinda cool ;)

Do you guys find you are slower in cold weather, even with dry roads? I know I'm carrying a lot more gear, and not as wind slick as I am during summer, but I'm seeing a 2-3 mph drop in average speed I can't account for.

Strange. I was just pondering the same thing this morning. :p
The increased weight has quite a bit to do with it IMHO. Plus, I find cycling in cold weather much more physically demanding. Cold air seems to make my lungs work harder and the humidity is slim to nonexistant.
Just think when spring hits... much better shape for riding with a jersey and shorts.

I've also noticed I'm slower. Slower as it gets colder (below ~37F). I agree with DataJunkie that the weather is more physically demanding. My muscles are taking a beating early in the morning.

The "many many" is one of my problems :o But anyway, my question was more "what works for you" kind of thing.

I agree on the muscles working harder. One thing I noticed today in Denver was that the winds seem to be much more of a presence as well. With the cold comes those gusts which slowed me down to walking speed several times this morning. I'm leaving work now and just hoping that those same gusts will send me home. :)

i dunno. i don't think i have a fast to go slower-than :D never done this ride on a hot or even a warm day either. but for the limited meaning it has, i think i'm actually finding the opposite is true: i seem to be doing better and feeling stronger (so far) now that the temperature is consistently below 5 celsius. i have quite a lot of trouble with random inflammation, so maybe the cold keeps it under control for me or something. this past week is the first one for a long time that i haven't woken up sore. it's too bad i hate winter.

doesn't it take more energy just to keep you warm when the weather is cold? that could be why it's harder to add exercise on top of it.

I remember reading a few things agreeing with and negating that statement. I can't remember which is true. I know that for myself I am slower. I blame it on the wind and the extra resistance from more layers of clothing. Whenever I'm wearing my windproof tights and climbing, the burn hits way sooner than if I was wearing no tights at all. I can just feel them working against me. But I'd rather be slow than freeze my nuts off (literally) :)